Glossary - exWitch Australia (formerly 'Born Again Pagan')

AMDUSCIAS

AMDUSCIAS

One of the traditional demons of popular mythology was Amduscius, who had a single horn on his forehead, like the unicorn.

The unicorn, a mythical beast, has in-spired man in several ways. Aristotle (384-322 BC) mentions two kinds of unicorn, the Indian ass and the oryx, a kind of ante-lope that is single-horned in profile; and the Roman writers Pliny (23-79 AD) and Aelian (170-2.35 AD) between them muster seven different kinds, the most important being the rhinoceros, though, like Ctesias, neither realized they were describing that beast.

The most momentous thing that happened to the Western unicorn was a mistake. The Greek translators of the Old Testament rendered the word Re'em as mono-ceros, 'single-horned' or unicorn.

This magnificent error conferred on the unicorn a lifespan far exceeding that of the rest of the mythical menagerie and lasting well into the 18th century. Through this mistranslation the unicorn became part of the Bible and to doubt its existence was to question the inspired word of God. The battle over the true identity of the Re'em was long and complex, but it was eventually identified as bos primigenius, the giant aurochs, a species of wild buffalo that was extinct in Mesopotamia by about 500 BC.

Sir Austen Layard identified the aurochs with the superbly sculptured 'bulls of Nineveh', dating from the time of Nebuchadnezzar (6th century BC) which were seen by the Jews at the time of their captivity. The beasts are shown in conventional profile and therefore look single-horned. However, as Odell Shepard points out in The Lore of the Unicorn, there is little in the Hebrew text of the Bible to suggest that the Jews themselves thought of the Re'em as anything but two-horned, since the word for 'horn' is almost invariably in the plural.

Later Jewish commentators exaggerated the Re'em out of all proportion. A young unicorn becomes as large as Mount Tabor and as high as the sky. Because it could not fit into Noah's Ark, the unicorn had to be towed by a rope attached to its horn; and another tradition states that it perished in the waters. Talmudic texts link the unicorn firmly with the lion: 'And in our land there is also the unicorn, which has a great horn on its forehead. And there are also many lions. And when the lion sees a unicorn it draws him against a tree, and the horn pierces so deep into the tree it cannot pull it out again, and then the lion comes and kills the unicorn...'

Bestiaries, collections of moral tales about real or fabulous animals, were very popular all through the Middle Ages. Texts varied according to local and religious influences, but all recounted the most famous of all legends about the unicorn - its capture by a virgin. According to this tale, the unicorn, a small kid-like beast armed with a sharp pointed horn, is too fleet and fierce to be taken by hunters. Only a virgin seated alone under a tree in a forest can capture it; because it is irresistibly attracted by the odours of virtue, the uniGorn approaches the virgin, lays its head in her lap and per-mits itself to be caressed into sleep. She breaks its horn, the dogs leap, the hunts-man pounces, and the unicorn is taken.

Details vary, vividly, from text to text; in some the unicorn indulges in familiarities remarkably unsuited to virginal virtue, and in others the virgin is a boy in disguise. Although this legend, of unknown provenance, is transparently erotic, it was tortured into ill-fitting Christian significance. The treacherous virgin was identified with the Mother of God, and the unicorn with Christ and also, despite its dubious familiarities, with purity. The single horn was said to symbolize the unity of Father and Son, and also the 'horn' of the cross, the upright beam projecting above the transverse.

The huntsman became the Holy Spirit acting through the angel Gabriel, and the king's palace was heaven. The dogs represented truth, justice, mercy and peace, despite the fact that their function was to tear the unicorn to pieces; they were said to couple at the beast's death, signifying that, though seemingly irreconcilable, truth, justice, mercy and peace were now one.

Another famous legend concerns the Virtues of the alicorn, the beast's horn, as an antidote to poison. The animals gather at sunset to quench their thirst, and find the 'great water' poisoned with venom discharged by a serpent. Unable to drink, they await the unicorn. The beast approaches, makes the sign of the cross over the water with its horn and instantly the water is cleansed.

PLEASE NOTE:
One of the major problems with 'defining' Paganism and/or its beliefs and practices is that it is an 'organic' movement, in that it is undergoing constant change and re-evaluation from within, and as such any 'one-size-fits-all' approach to understanding Paganism will be found wanting.

Due to the very 'organic' nature of Paganism, and the many differing Paths and Traditions within it, in many cases no one definition may be universally accepted by all Pagans. Therefore, where such cases of possible conflicting and/or contradictory meanings of certain terms occur I have endevoured to give not only the generally accepted meaning, but also any major 'variations' in belief and/or practice.

Christians who believe this difference in meaning of certain key terms, beliefs and practices to be unique to Paganism need to remember that such conflicts also arise within the Body of Christ - the Church. Take for instance the differing practices amongst Christians concerning Baptism and the different attitudes towards women in the clergy.

- Jean-Luc